R.I.P. Arsenal(1996-2018)
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but this is arsenal now a total laughing stock. opposition fans chant that they want wenger to stay. is there a sadder indictment on one of the most transformative figures english football has ever known1 it may not be officially over but arsenal are limping along on life support while coaches like pep guardiola demonstrate whats required at this level1 henrikh mkhitaryan and pierre-emerick aubameyang came in january but they are cpr signings. theres no plan for them. under this man this club is limping along on life support. please someone come in june and have enough humanity to pull the plug and let it die. then the club can rise again1 people like raul sanllehi sven mislintat and huss fahmy were originally brought to the club to ease the transition from the wengerian times to the post-wengerian times. but its too late. its no longer a transition. itll have to be a reincarnation a phoenix from the flames job1 the great irony though is that wenger deserves all of the credit for modern arsenal but perversely all of the blame. it was wenger who delivered the trophies the stadium henry the invincibility the history. but it was wenger who oversaw this inexcusable decline1 he was in title terms always second-best to sir alex ferguson the odd double aside. but one area in which wenger has thoroughly out-performed his scottish rival is how to run a club into the ground1 manchester united are five years into their post-ferguson era and are no closer to being restored to their perch at the top of english football. some of the blame for that decline lies with the man himself and his failure to prepare the club for the day he would no longer be there1 most of the blame though belongs to the glazers who for too long trusted him to pump the clubs chest and give it mouth-to-mouth. when he walked away it flatlined1 well united if you want to see how to botch a handover just have a look at whats currently transpiring in north london1 thursday nights 3-0 loss at home to manchester city may not mark the end of it all but its certainly a sign of the times. yes its cold out yes the roads arent in great shape but just look again at the number of vacant seats inside the emirates1 this ground wasnt built with half-full in mind. it wasnt designed to be a cold cavernous bowl where fans would come to abuse and make sure the team and wenger knew how unhappy they were1 arsene wengers arsenal will exist officially at least until the end of this season. but theres no life there. its gone all over. anyone can see that now1 arsenal couldnt lay a glove on city here. for the first time ever they conceded three first-half premier league goals. city under pep guardiola ruthlessly demonstrated what the expected standards of a top team should be1 yes theres abu dhabi energy wealth in the difference between the sides but that shouldnt count for much on a night like this1 four days ago arsenal were exposed to a type of humiliation in a cup final which would make them wish they hadnt qualified in the first place1 give something anything just to show the people you care or that you learned something. they got more of the same. city were good really good but it was an occasion when you wanted arsenal to show they wouldnt roll over again1 the quality of citys goals showed what they were up against the gap wenger would have to breach if he was even to pretend that he had the wherewithal to turn this all around1 keeping the ball one-touch passes assassin-like finishes city gave everything at a stage of the season where they could probably afford to give nothing and still win the title1 it seems like talk of the top four is irrelevant with arsenal right now even if the europa league is still there as a champions league failsafe. but its not like manchester united last year1 whether you liked it or not jose mourinho had a plan. he chucked the league and went for the europa instead and it paid off. but you cant trust arsenal to follow the same path. you cant trust arsenal to beat ac milan. you cant even trust them to beat ostersunds1 but what can be relied upon is their relentless consistency in living down to expectations. would we get a reaction to sunday would wenger show hes got the fight left inside would arsenal surprise everyone and give manchester city a game1 it was 3-0 by half-time and even those who dont support them might have finally had enough. pointless1 by peter staunton. culled from goal.com1